#52 Gentle Nudge: Frickin Do It

Ever find yourself nodding along to good advice… but not actually putting it into action? You’re not alone! In this final episode of our Gentle Nudge series, Dr. Harry Cohen and Connie Fontaine go all in on Chapter 30: “Frickin Do It”—the ultimate rally cry for turning knowledge into action and making positive habits stick.

Why should you tune in?

• Get a burst of motivation to move from “knowing” to “doing”—because real change happens when you take that first step, no matter how small.
• Hear how Harry and Connie keep it real about the daily struggle (and victory!) of practicing what they preach, even when life gets messy.
• Discover why the tiniest acts—holding the door, smiling at a stranger, or just not saying that snarky thing—can be the biggest wins for your mindset and relationships.
• Learn the secret to making positive habits automatic, with simple reminders and daily reflection that keep you on track.

This episode is perfect for anyone searching for inspiration on habit formation, motivation, positive mindset, and self-improvement. Whether you’ve listened to every Gentle Nudge or you’re just jumping in, “Frickin Do It” is your call to action to live what you know and shine a little brighter every day.

Ready to stop overthinking and start doing? Hit play, get inspired, and let’s keep spreading the sun—not the salt—together!

(Mini-episode, maximum motivation—perfect for your next coffee break, walk, or moment when you need that extra push!)

Looking for more?

• Share this episode with a friend who could use a nudge to take action.
• Subscribe for your weekly dose of positive mindset, self-improvement, and practical wisdom!
• Explore our archives for more on building habits, motivation, and living your best life.

To explore the book, or for more episodes, information, tips and tools to live a more heliotropic life, visit us at bethesunnotthesalt.com and find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Transcript

​[00:00:00] 

Dr. Harry Cohen: Welcome. My name is Dr. Harry Cohen. I'm the author of Be the Sun, not the Salt, and I'm joined by my co-host and chief Super spreader. Connie Fontaine, this is our Gentle Nudge series, and this is the final chapter of the book.

Connie Fontaine: Hard to believe.

Dr. Harry Cohen: I know fricking do it.

Connie Fontaine: Yeah, chapter 30 is fricking Do It. And I love that you ended the book this way and we celebrate with this, uh, this little coin term often. Do you wanna talk a little bit about what drew you to that fricking do it at the end of the

Dr. Harry Cohen: You know, the idea is it's not about what we know. It's about doing what we know. And what more needs to be said other than let's go forth and do more of what we already do, period. And you know, every time I'm on a, a guest on a podcast or a TV show, I just did one yesterday. Keeping it simple [00:01:00] and doing this stuff is the whole point.

Connie Fontaine: Because it's simple to know. It, it's, it's simple to talk about it. It's, um, really simple to wanna do it. Sometimes it's just hard to do

Dr. Harry Cohen: And that is it. I find the just fricking do it as a helpful reminder to do that, which we know and for all the people who are already following us and doing it, thank you. Let's keep doing it and help each other do it more. It's that simple and that hard.

Connie Fontaine: And that hard. Right. And I think there's life circumstances that make it hard sometimes. You know, I, as people can You know, I, as people can probably hear, I have a little bit of a cold. Um, it was a lot more of a cold yesterday and I, I had to remind myself a few times I was feeling a little mopey, had people in the house. Was trying to just like, I really just wanted to say, go away.

And instead, I was heliotropic because I chose [00:02:00] to be. And the reminder is I felt better because of it. I think if I would've sat and wallowed by myself, I would've, I would've felt every bit of this cold. And instead we, um, laughed and we talked and, um, everything was, it And that's our job every single day to the extent that we can, don't overthink this. Do the tiniest things that you and we already do. Just a smidgen more. What do you mean? Hold the door? A smile at a, at a stranger. Say please and thank you. Don't say the snarky thing that you're thinking. That one is as huge to me as anything.

Dr. Harry Cohen: And it continually blows my mind that I have to go. Yeah. Don't say it. That's victory. That's doing some good.

Connie Fontaine: It is victory. you, when do you think you have to remind All the time. What do you mean when it's, it's, it's nonstop. When it's [00:03:00] automatic, it's great, Right. you know, that's just wonderful. Somebody stopped in the restaurant the other day and said, you don't remember me, but you gave me a book a year ago. I was going through a difficult time. I want you to know my daughter's doing better and I've been reading a chapter a day, and I said, I do that too.

Dr. Harry Cohen: And it's the doing of that, not the knowing it. That reminds me that yesterday's chapter happened to be how people keep perspective, and we talked about that, and it's the reminding and the doing that I find the most helpful.

Connie Fontaine: That's right. Well, and I think that's a good reminder for all of us because now even if you've listened to every, uh, every one of the gentle nudges, even if you've read every one of the chapters, most practices, including meditation, uh, any kind of exercise requires day-to-day reminders. And, and I think that's what this book is meant to be.

It's a day-to-day reminder of everything you probably should have learned in kindergarten. Um, and we may have, but just to remind ourselves every day, I Yeah, I do it. [00:04:00] For that reason, and I found it incredibly helpful. And what I also find amazing, which I probably shouldn't,

Dr. Harry Cohen: every day I just read the chapter I very briefly in the morning and think about how am I going to apply the lesson of that chapter for me to period. That's my job. Today's happens to be make your motive clear and clean.

And I thought about how I want to apply that today. I don't know what tomorrow's chapter's gonna be, but that's my practice. Keeping it front and center, making it real for me, making it simple, making it doable, making it personal, and the, the reminding has made my life so much better personally and professionally.

Connie Fontaine: And for listeners, I mean, today you mentioned make your motive clear and clean. 'cause it's chapter 19 and it happens to be the 19th of the month that we're recording, recording this. And so just that simple practice of looking at it and the way you reflect back to a lot of us that are on your distribution list is this is. [00:05:00] What you're taking away for today, I'm gonna make sure you look ahead. You say, you know what? Today I'm gonna be meeting with some people and I'm gonna make sure that I'm very clear, um, about my motive and making sure before going even into the meeting, I know what that is. So And that's what we need. There's nothing more and nothing less than reminding ourselves and then doing it, not talking about it, Mm-hmm. but the doing is what makes the difference. So that's it.

That's right. We work with this, we work with this platform every day, and we still remind ourselves and each other, and I think that's the, that was the intent of this series. So Gentle Nudge was meant to be, we all know it. Just kind of a little reminder for each one of us every day. And we hope that if you've, you've enjoyed this, you can get a chance to go back.

Couple different ways you can do it is looking at the book, listening to the audible version. Um, and just again, going back to Gentle Nudge series. We'd love that. Pass these along. I think that, that we're finding, the feedback we're getting is thanks for the short, simple [00:06:00] reminders, and it makes everybody's access to this information a little easier. So please share, please, um, follow us on Instagram. Do whatever you can to help us, um, pass along this message and share this platform with as many people as we can. Who wouldn't wanna live in a world where people are trying to be the sun and not the salt? Thank you for listening.